Starrantino to F1600 Lime Rock Pole in Heavy Rain

Starrantino, who won both races at VIR in April to start the year, lost his Championship points lead with a DNF in round four just two weeks ago at Road Atlanta, and bonus points for pole are massively important for the young American’s quest for the 2013 F1600 title.

The Bryan Herta Autosport driver’s pole time came very early in the session, under heavy rain, which only got worse throughout the all-green-flag 30-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon.

Alspach backed up two top-ten finishes earlier this month at Road Atlanta in May with a break-through front-row qualifying effort in tricky conditions in the No. 66 Mygale/Honda. Alpsach missed out on his first career pole by just 0.071 seconds in a tight qualifying session.

Current Championship leader Aaron Telitz qualified third and missed most of the session after going off into the tire barrier in the WISKO Racing Mygale/Honda. Luckily, for Telitz, the incident did not stop the session so he was able to keep his quick time.

Sam Chastain showed his rain driving skill-set with the fourth fastest time in his No. 97 Mygale/Honda, running a total of 18 laps around the 1.53-mile circuit.

Championship contender Jake Eidson ended up with a two-grid-position penalty after missing the checkered flag, meaning he will have to start from fifth as he hopes to repeat on his Road Atlanta victory.

Ayla Agren followed in six position, ahead of Art Foster, Steve Bamford, Austin McCusker and Glenn Taylor.

Taylor, a long-time Formula F veteran, is making his first start in this F1600 Series, driving a British-built PRS chassis.

Joe Colasacco was 11th quick, and the first driver to hit the track with the skies open, logging the most laps in the session with 22 circuits of Lime Rock in his No. 3 Van Diemen/Honda. Colasacco would have qualified sixth but incurred a penalty for missing the checkered flag in earlier practice.

Starrantino's pole time was 1:05.101 around Lime Rock, versus Telitz's fast practice lap, under the qualifying record on a dry track at 53.248.

The Friday at Lime Rock featured the entire paddock looking at the skies, as morning practice took place during a downpour before the track dried for second practice, and then clouds moved in again, leading to a wet qualifying session. Temperatures were chilly, never getting out of the fifties, while Saturday’s schedule calls for colder temperatures and yet more rain in the Northwestern corner of Connecticut.

The doubleheader event at Lime Rock will see the second race’s grid order set by fast laps in race one.

Rounds five and six of the 2013 F1600 Formula F Championship Series happen tomorrow, Saturday, May 24, at Lime Rock Park, with races scheduled at 11:15 and 4:35 local time.

Qualifying Results

PosNo.NameMake/ModelLapsBest TmDiff 1 98 Adrian Starrantino Mygale Honda 20 1:05.101 - 2 66 Paul Alspach Mygale Honda 15 1:05.172 +0.071 3 13 Aaron Telitz Mygale Honda 13 1:05.497 +0.396 4 97 Sam Chastain Mygale Honda 18 1:05.918 +0.817 5 10 Jake Eidson Spectrum Honda 19 1:05.248 +0.147 6 96 Ayla Agren Mygale Honda 19 1:06.750 +1.649 7 21 Art Foster/M Spectrum Honda 13 1:06.892 +1.791 8 07 Steve Bamford/M Mygale Honda 20 1:07.297 +2.196 9 06 Austin McCusker Van Diemen Honda 12 1:07.965 +2.864 10 93 Glenn Taylor PRS RH01 20 1:09.054 +3.953 11 3 Joe Colasacco/M Van Diemen Honda 22 1:06.889 +1.788 12 2 Mike Scanlan/M Swift DB6 Honda 17 1:09.123 +4.022 13 41 Rob Albani Van Dieman Ford 10 1:09.384 +4.283 14 44 Ed Callo/M Bowman Ford 11 1:09.993 +4.892 15 7 Jim Goughary Van Diemen Honda 6 1:10.687 +5.586 16 0 Lewis Cooper III/M Van Diemen Ford 0 -.--- - 17 5 Dan Oseth Van Diemen Honda 0 -.--- - 18 28 Wes Allen Piper Honda 0 -.--- - 19 31 Scott Rubenzer/M Spectrum Honda 0 -.--- - 20 36 Steve Roux Wyvern Honda 0 -.--- - 21 45 Kenneth Boquillion/M Mygale Honda 0 -.--- - 22 47 Jim MacNicholl Van Diemen Honda 0 -.--- - 23 68 Caitlin Johnston Van Diemen Honda 0 -.--- - 24 99 Sean Maisey Citation Honda 0 -.--- -